Marcus Bascus is escorted out of the Essex County Courthouse in October 2010. Bascus, now 23, of East Orange, pleaded guilty last week to charges related to the 2010 fatal shooting of a Seton Hall University student.Amanda Brown/The Star-Ledger

NEWARK — Less than a week after his co-defendant received a life sentence, an East Orange man pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges related to his role in the 2010 fatal shooting of a Seton Hall University student.

Marcus Bascus, 23, admitted to providing the handgun Nicholas Welch used to open fire at an off-campus party on Sept. 25, 2010, killing Jessica Moore and injuring four others.

Bascus pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and unlawful possession of a weapon. The remaining eight counts against Bascus in the indictment – including murder and attempted murder charges – will be dismissed.

In exchange for his guilty pleas, prosecutors are recommending a 15-year sentence for Bascus, said Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Romesh Sukhdeo.

Bascus will have to serve more than 12 years before becoming eligible for parole, and he will receive credit for time already served, Sukhdeo said. His sentencing is scheduled for July 24.

Bascus’ attorney, Clifford Lazzaro, said today in a phone interview that his client “understands that what he did was wrong, and he’s willing to apologize for it and accept responsibility for it.”

“If he had the ability to turn back the hands of time and not have provided the weapon to Welch, he certainly would have done so,” Lazzaro said.

At sentencing, Lazzaro said he will argue for a 10-year prison term, based on Bascus’ lack of a prior adult criminal record and the excessive hardship that imprisonment would impose upon his daughter.

Welch, 29, also of East Orange, was sentenced on May 30 to life in prison for murdering Moore, a 19-year-old Seton Hall sophomore from Virginia. He received an additional 20-year sentence for the attempted murder of four other partygoers, who were shot, but survived the attack.

Welch was convicted on March 31 of opening fire at a South Clinton Street home in East Orange where several members of the Seton Hall chapter of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity were holding a party.

Welch lived down the street and demanded to be let inside, but was turned away, prosecutors said. After Welch refused to leave, he got into a scuffle and one of the party’s hosts punched him in the nose, prosecutors said.

Welch then walked across the street to Bascus, telling him “Give me the banger,” Sukhdeo said during the trial. Bascus gave a .38-caliber revolver
to Welch, who returned to the party and began firing, Sukhdeo said.

In the days after the shooting, Welch was arrested in his house and Bascus was taken into custody as he hid in the bathroom of an apartment in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.